• Quote: ‘Military March would have been my best chance in the Derby for a long time’ – trainer Saeed bin Suroor

By Andrew Atkinson

Saeed bin Suroor trained fancied runner Military March has been ruled out of the Investec Derby at Epsom on July 4 after suffering a three months setback.

“He’ll be back by the end of the season – his setback means no Derby – he’s a nice horse, we like him and he was doing really well,” revealed bin Suroor.

“It’s really unfortunate. He’ll have a break now, but he should be back in October – we’ll look forward to that,” said bin Suroor.

“It’s sad that he’s not running after he ran a good race in the (2000) Guineas – the Derby looked the perfect race – as we’ve always felt he was a mile and a quarter or mile and a half horse.

“But, he’s still one to look forward to in the future. It’s not serious – he just needs time.

“He would have been my best chance in the Derby for a long time,” added bin Suroor.

Godolphin owned Military March was priced at 6-1 for the Derby classic, behind English King, ridden by Frankie Dettori, and Kameko, after finishing fourth in the 2020, 2000 Guineas at Newmarket.